Latest Paper Doll? Meet Casey in the Aspens

I am going to confess.  I love aspen trees- especially as they turn yellow and "twinkle" in the fall.  It's a magical combination against a western sky---and nothing along the East coast, except maybe for a flaming red maple, comes close.  So, as I continued my Serendipity series of grown-up paper dolls, I added Casey in the Aspens.

Working on this piece allowed me to literally peel the paper bark off the trees and put it back on again using various archival handmade papers from my flat file.  So fun!  And Casey watches it all, in her boots with skirt, hair and bow blowing in the breeze. (Gave me a momentary memory of Marlo Thomas in That Girl throwing her hat up in the air.) So much fun.  Can't wait to start another and really wish I could just snap my fingers and borrow that skirt tomorrow......

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Serendipity Series Begins

For an artist, inspiration for various series come from different places.  Sometimes it is from an experience, maybe a memory, a color, or an idea in passing.  This time, it was the idea that all women can be strong and masterful, but still love to be special, unique, and memorable. In short, we are multi-layered and multi-faceted.  Much like mixed media- from many different things- that somehow combine into something special.

My new series is called Serendipity for the feeling of the word and optimism of the series.  I began my first- Chloe- as an exercise with my studio class.  Chloe is made of paint, newsprint, archival paper and finished off with a few sharpie swirls. Who wouldn't like more serendipity?

If you would like to follow my current musings, you can find me as braitzatl on Twitter.

Put Me in the Zoo?

When I was growing up, I loved Dr. Seuss.  Many of his books appealed to me due to their whimsy, colors, made up words and terrific ideas.  But the one that stood out among the others for me was Put Me in the Zoo. Maybe it was the colors, the polka dots or the message of trying to fit in, but realizing you should be yourself and stand out. Whatever drew me in, I loved it and still love it all these years later.

Even though I currently drive my 2005 "Mom Minivan" nicknamed Merlin, I can't help but sigh at the sight of cute VW bugs zipping around my town and think "someday." I have gone so far as to paint polka dots on fun VW's in my art series entitled VROOM.  Blue Bug 2 is below.

So, when I woke one morning with the idea that I should just find round plain car magnets and polka dot my mini-van, I couldn't wait to start Googling. Without much effort, I found Instant Karma, collections of fun magnets that you can use to decorate your vehicle.  And though mine is not yet the Beetle I hope to have one day, I couldn't resist putting my own spin on Merlin.







Check it out.  I have a feeling it will attract quite a bit of attention in my little Conservative enclave. And though I won't fit into the sea of white, grey, silver and beige cars I drive in each day, I might add just a little whimsy to the road. (And find my car easier in the parking lot.)

Collage is Not Just for Ransom Notes

I saw this great ad for a show at a museum in London (with the title above) and decided it was going to be our Art Studio sketchbook assignment for this week.  My students are busily working, but I finished first and wanted to share my finished page.

My assemblage is about my journey through art. I have used scans of my Beetle art pieces as the cars driving along the road and some great road package tape as the boundaries.  It was really great fun picking out all the different papers- cutting them into squares- attaching them and filling in with prismacolors. (In fact, I think I would love a quilt made out of these patterns and colors.)  It would also have been fun to make the entire background then attach 1 or 3 major figures or themes.  Hint: Nikki is playing with Ninjas from the Ninja Gmail background- can't wait to see how it comes out.)











From the beginning to the end (where you reach my newest Twitter avatar), you can see many fun mediums (symbolized by the papers/colors), twists and turns into new directions (shown by the road)-  always bounded by the tape, which are my guard rails.  It was fun and frothy and therapeutic.  Who doesn't like to color?









Coming next?  I'll share the other collages when finished, but this week, we are moving on to t-shirt rag pillows.  A great way to upcycle old tshirts and to create a really fun piece for your bed. I got the idea from a tshirt rag rug tutorial I found on Pinterest.  I'll share our inspiration with pics of what we make. To give you a clue, here's a preview of our trial rows.  Color, color, color!!

Handmade Valentines Rock!

It's hard to escape the fact that Valentine's is fast approaching.  The myriad of red, pink and white in nearly every window is a lovely reminder to get busy.  So, we did.  In my first afternoon "art studio" get together with my daughter and her friend, we are going to make handmade Valentines for friends and family.  Had to try it out first---and loved not only the making of them, but the result.

I began with a package of 8 over-sized white tags from Michaels for......$1.  They even have matching envelopes.  Love it!  Zipped to my computer, found the perfect quotes from quotegarden.com, and printed them onto one side of the tag. I did this by testing the position on a piece of regular copy paper, then taping the tag lightly over where the message printed and sending it through again. (I have one message for friends, one for Nikki, one for my son, husband, etc.)  Here is one of them.












So, then the fun began.  Scooting up to my studio,  I trolled through my flat files of paper to find just the right combination of colors for my friends.  Before adding hearts or circles, I used double sided permanent tape to cover the non-message side entirely with a fun paper, so that it would be the background for my little tag "canvas".  Using the same double sided tape (no mess, no fuss) , I added various hearts, circles, etc. that I cut out until I had the look I wanted.

Once done, I re-punched the hole at the top. (You could reinforce it with the little donuts, but I wasn't near anything but the edible kind.)  Next, I added my ribbon to allow the tag to hang or to double as a bookmark.  Selecting from my button bins, I also looked for a complimentary button.  With a quick shimmy to the sewing machine, I attached the button on top of the ribbon so that it would not come loose.

Voila------a Valentine as individual as the people who will get them. Though they don't come with fun-dip, a smarty or sweet tarts, or even chocolate, they will hopefully remind my Valentines of how much they mean to me each day of the year.

Art therapy rocks!!!!